Who is your real employer?
The most valuable question in an Ortigas contracting case is not whether you were dismissed but who employed you. Where the contractor has no substantial capital or investment in tools, equipment, or premises, and the workers perform work directly related to the principal's main business — or the contractor does not actually exercise control — the arrangement is LABOR-ONLY CONTRACTING, which is prohibited. The consequence is decisive: the contractor is treated as a mere agent and the PRINCIPAL becomes your direct employer, responsible as if it had hired you itself. You become a regular employee of the principal, and the expiry of the service agreement is not a valid cause to end your employment.
DOLE registration of the contractor raises a presumption of legitimacy but is not conclusive — the substance of the arrangement controls.
Repeated fixed-term contracts
Rolling five-month contracts are the classic device for preventing regularisation. Where the work you perform is necessary or desirable to the usual business of the employer, repeated renewals point to regular employment regardless of what the contract says, and a fixed term is valid only where it was knowingly and voluntarily agreed without moral dominance by the employer. A project employee must be assigned to a project with a determined scope and duration made known at hiring — otherwise the label does not hold.
Night shift work
BPO operations generate the most under-paid entitlement in the city: night shift differential for work between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., which is separate from and additional to overtime pay. Where night work runs past eight hours, both are due, and overtime on night hours is computed on the differential-inclusive rate. Check your payslips before filing — the arithmetic is usually where the claim is.
Where to file
SEnA at the DOLE field office covering the workplace, then the Labor Arbiter of the NLRC National Capital Region branch serving Pasig. Money claims prescribe in three years; illegal dismissal in four.
Frequently asked
I work through an agency. Who is my employer?
If the contractor lacks substantial capital or does not exercise control, and you perform work directly related to the principal's main business, it is labor-only contracting and the principal is your direct employer.
Can my employer keep renewing my five-month contract?
Where the work is necessary or desirable to the usual business of the employer, repeated renewals point to regular employment regardless of the contract's label.
Is night differential the same as overtime?
No. Night shift differential is due for work between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and is separate from and additional to overtime pay. Where night work exceeds eight hours, both are due.
Does DOLE registration make my agency a legitimate contractor?
It raises a presumption of legitimacy but is not conclusive. The substance of the arrangement, including substantial capital and the exercise of control, determines the question.